Report: 29% of trucks in the Northeast are clean diesel trucks

WASHINGTON – In the Northeast United States, 29.1 percent of all trucks on the highway are equipped with clean diesel engines, according to data compiled by R.L. Polk and Co. for the Diesel Technology Forum.

Described as having “near zero emissions,” a total of 353,875 of the Northeast’s 1.2 million trucks contain the technology. The Northeast region includes the six New England states as well as New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

The Polk report includes registration information on Class 3-8 trucks from 2007 through 2012. According to a release, beginning in 2007, all heavy-duty diesel trucks sold had to meet particulate emissions levels of 0.01 grams per brake horse-power hour - a level near zero.

Currently, 28.6 percent of all trucks in the United States meet this standard.

“The fact that more than 28 percent of all trucks on U.S. roads today are new technology diesel engines with near zero emissions is significant for the environment and the trucking industry,” Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, said in prepared remarks.

“More than 95 percent of all heavy-duty trucks are diesel-powered, as are a majority of medium-duty trucks,” Schaeffer added. “Diesel power is the driving force today of goods movement by truck in our economy and they are continuing to play a central role of the United States’ new effort to reduce fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years.”

Of the four U.S. regions – Midwest, Northeast, South and West – the Northeast ranked third for the percentage of clean diesel trucks. The Midwest headed the pack at 31 percent, followed by the South at 29.8. The Western region of the U.S. ranked last, with 26 percent of its fleet at near-zero emissions.

“These increasing penetration rates are a reflection of the confidence that truckers have in the new technology diesel engines, particularly during the last few years, which have been a recessionary period with lower demand for trucking services,” Schaeffer said in a statement.

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